The Wake of the Nothings
by Pluto the Renewer
Summary: After their war against Organization XIII, the worlds fell into a quiet calamity. A note in a bottle from the King interrupts the peace and forewarns Riku, Sora, and Kairi of a new danger that threatens the worlds. RikuXSora MA Rating Suspense/Romance
1. Chapter 1

"The Wake of the Nothings"

Chapter One

* * *

It has been a month after the destruction of Organization XIII and the thwarting of Xemnas' plan to control Kingdom Hearts. Peace has fallen upon the worlds and people were able once more to live their lives in such a fashion that it was without fear. Maleficent and her band of cohorts have retreated to The World That Never Was, where they have claimed that land as their kingdom and rule a world of darkness in a world that should never exist. They have remained dormant in their plans and schemes to this day.

* * *

A bottle floated ashore while Sora, Riku, and Kairi were walking along the shore.

"A bottle?" Sora questioned aloud while picking it up and discovering that there was a note inside of it.

"Well? Aren't you going to read it?" asked Riku.

"Yeah! Read it!" Chimed in Kairi impatiently.

Sora opened the bottle and read the message aloud:

_Riku, Sora, and Kairi,_

_If you are reading this then something terrible has happened and the gears have been set in motion that cannot be stopped. I will require your help once more, for there is an unseen evil that even the legends and folklore behind the Keyblade never mentioned._

_I know right now it all seems so puzzling, but please trust me when I do say this- get away from the islands immediately! You are in great danger and by Riku and Sora being able to wield _

_the Keyblade you pose everyone else at risk to a more serious danger by attracting it to where you are. _

_Though I know nothing more about this new threat than you two do, I can offer you a little more knowledge though that will help. _

_The Nothings._

_Sincerely,_

_Mickey Mouse_

The three sat in silence, the ocean sounded loudly behind them and the gulls overhead cawed loudly. Kairi shivered uneasily, "I don't like the sound of that letter, what do you think the danger is?"

Riku shrugged his shoulder, "I'm unsure, but I do know that Mickey wouldn't send a letter without any reason whatsoever so this threat is something serious for him to alert us about it. We should get ready to leave immediately."

Sora only nodded and said, "Yeah!"

The three quickly ran to the docks, kicking up sand behind them. In a frenzy they each got in their boats and rowed to the main island. As soon as they were docked, they quickly departed with only a sentence for them to remember, "Meet back here in an hour!"

Sora got to his home, ran up the stoop, through the front door and up to his room. His mother shouted up in confusion, "Sora! Sweetie! What's going on?"

As soon as Sora had packed a few things in his backpack, he walked downstairs and sorrowfully began to explain to his mother, "Mom… I'm sure you know that I have been away for a long time and that I am different from everyone. I'm the Keyblade Master and there are some things that I can't explain… but I have to leave, to keep you guys safe!"

Sora began to tear up, he had missed his mother so much and a month was not enough time to catch up and explain to her everything that had happened. Without second thought he rushed out the door, his mother shouting after him, "Sora! Wait!"

He was out of earshot and was gone, she held onto the trimming of the door and whispered quietly, "Sora… Be careful… I love you so much…"

Riku walked through his front door and straight up to his room and collected what he thought he would need. His dad stood in the door, "What are you doing?"

Riku turned and looked at his Dad, "I have to leave, it's important."

"The last time you left, I thought you ran away…" his Dad said, it was almost like small talk.

"I did…" Riku corrected his father.

"Oh…"

"But this time it's different… Lives are at stake…"

Riku turned and gathered up his stuff and walked up to the door where his father was standing there halfway in and halfway out. He stretched his arms out in a warm gesture, Riku merely walked by and went out the front door.

Kairi walked into her front door and up the stairs to her room. She gathered up only a couple of things and put the small bag she had laying on her bag and walked out. There was no one home anymore, they didn't reappear when the island came back. She always hoped that they would but she always knew in the back of her mind that they were elsewhere.

She locked the door and made her way back, looking over her shoulder once more at the house that she was leaving. She didn't feel remorseful in the least because she wasn't leaving anymore too important behind.

Kairi looked up to the horizon, clouds were building up and lighting flashed from one of them. She thought to herself, "Like the storm on the horizon, we will sail straight through and prevail like we always have."

"That's the spirit…"

Kairi jumped, she turned and behind her stood Namine with her notepad out drawing the sunset.

"You scared me…" Kairi said after calming herself down.

Namine only smiled sweetly, "I'm sorry, but those words were inspiring… However there is something that you have to have before you leave, Kairi…"

"What?" She asked Namine, who stood up and walked forward more.

"You cannot go as you are because what lies ahead is treacherous and you can't be a burden…" Namine explained as she looked in her bag and dug out a marble and held it forward.

Kairi walked forward and reluctantly took it, which shone with brilliance in the midday sun, "What is it?"

"Just hold it up to the sun," Namine said. Kairi held it up to the sun, suddenly the gem got brighter and light flooded the area. The wind picked up and whispers encircled her, they told her of the ancient arts of magic, spell casting, and summoning. Within moments it all stopped and the gem was gone.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"I merely gave you all the magical knowledge I had ever gotten from every person that I have ever had to modify their memories to, which is quite a lot of people." Namine said smiling, "You should be a helpful ally in more ways than one now. Good luck, I'm always with you if you need me!"

Namine disappeared. Kairi turned to the road and began running, smiling and whispering to herself, "I'm not going to let you guys down!"

The three met up at the docks, each of them solemn and silent. They nodded to each other and got into their respective boats and rowed to the island once more. Once there, they went to the cave where the door to their world's heart was. They remained silent because they did not want to draw attention to themselves or let people know what was going on. They particularly feared of their friends getting involved with something they did not need to.

They stood in a small cluster together once they were inside the cave and made sure no one was eavesdropping.

"How are we going to get off the island? We don't have a ship." Asked Sora concerned, he crossed his arms.

"The raft won't get us far," Riku merely said in sarcasm.

Within Kairi's heart, Namine spoke, "Kairi, when I gave you that gem to give you all the knowledge of spells and summons, I gave you my knowledge of how to create doors of darkness between worlds like Organization XIII once did."

"Is it safe for us to use?" Asked Kairi shifting her weight uneasily, the other two were chatting idly to each other contemplating possible solutions.

"It's the only alternative…" Namine said, Kairi trusted her judgement and advice.

"I have a solution," Kairi announced, "Stand back!"

Kairi held up her hand and focused on pulling the knowledge that she had inside of her now to open a door to another world. Suddenly darkness slinked across the room and up the wall, a portal opened. The other two wheeled and turned to Kairi's direction.

"Where did you learn to do that?" asked Riku astonished and a little suspicious.

"I can't explain it at the moment, but we need to leave now! We don't know if we're out of time or not." Kairi shouted as she ran in.

Riku and Sora reluctantly followed. They didn't know that Kairi had opened up a portal to Traverse Town, a safe haven for all refugees. Which they were, once again. It was a simple irony in itself. The place where the adventure began first time, came back full circle.

When they emerged from the darkness they were astonished at the sight of what they were greeted with. The town was being attacked and ripped apart by an unseen force. It was like a gale of wind, debris flying everywhere and people screaming and scrambling to safety. The trio were absolutely appalled by the sight.

"What's happening!?" Shouted Kairi, closing the portal behind her to ensure whatever was happening did not make it to Destiny Islands.

"Whatever it is it's destroying the town and could hurt people!" Riku commented as he drew out his Keyblade and protected Kairi from some debris that had flown in their direction.

"We need to stop it!" Sora shouted, summoning the Keyblade to his side and jumping in, slashing wildly at the debris.

Riku followed Sora and attempted to help keep the townspeople safe from the dangerous debris while they fled to the sewers to hide from the danger. Kairi stood in the center of the maelstrom trying to figure out what was going on when she had the idea to use a spell she knew, a sight spell. "REVEAL!" she shouted, suddenly a gigantic beast was revealed to her. It looked like a Heartless except that it was in flames and different colors and very disfigured. She immediately noticed that it did not have the emblem of the Heartless or the Nobodies.

"Riku! Sora! There is a monster here doing it that's invisible! Here!" Kairi shouted to them as she cast Reveal on the two. They saw the beast that was destroying the town.

"What the hell is it!?" exclaimed Riku.

"I don't know, but it has to go!" shouted Sora.

The two ran at it and began working together to destroy it. Kairi ran in to help, Sora noticed.

"Kairi! Get out of the way before you get hurt!" Shouted Sora as the monster hit him and caused him to soar towards the building.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted, "Protect!"

A field formed around Sora, protected him from the impact, and then vanished. Sora turned and looked at Kairi amazed, "How did you do that?!"

"Not enough time to explain!" Kairi shouted as she ran towards the monster to help Riku, who was doing his best to keep the monster at bay.

Through what seemed like hours, the clanking of Keyblades against the armor of the beast and debris and shouts of spells came to an end when the monster suddenly vanished without a trace. The trio began to scout the town and make sure that everyone was alright. They met in the second district where they initially came out of the portal. They sat together on the only remaining bench.

"What in the world was that?" Asked Sora as they got together.

"I don't know," confessed Kairi, she was just as clueless as they were.

"Whatever it was, it was powerful, big, and very devastating…" Riku commented as he crossed his arms.

"It was also a Nothing." A familiar voice said behind them added. They turned to discover that it was the last person they expected to see.

* * *

One-time disclaimer: All the characters, trademarks, and logos belong to their respectful owners.


	2. Chapter 2

"The Wake of the Nothings"

Chapter 2

* * *

"It was a Nothing, to be precise." A familiar voice said behind them added. They turned to discover that it was the last person they expected to see.

"What?" Sora turned around, "Axel? I thought you were… you know? Dead?"

"I was… until one day something happened and the light flooded everything I was back," Axel explained, "I guess you could say that, though it's not exactly accurate."

"How would you describe it to be accurate then?" asked Riku, intrigued by Axel's miraculous resurrection, if it was at all one.

"When I died, I thought I would fade from existence completely but I was wrong," Axel began, "When a Nobody dies from natural causes they do not cease to exist, they just merely return to the darkness until they are called."

"…and you were called for?" this time it was Kairi who interrupted.

"Yes," Axel said, crossing his arms.

"By who?" asked Kairi.

"His majesty." Axel replied.

People in the background began emerging one by one from the sewers and their hiding places and began to sift through the rubble of the city. The bells chimed in the distance, signaling the all clear for people to come out. People rushed to check on family and friends. Kairi, Sora, Riku, and Axel stood in a little group towards a corner, ignoring the shouts and tears of people crying in both sadness and happiness.

"His majesty?" Riku asked suspiciously.

"Yes, when he called me from the darkness he gave me an important task to do. To help you guys in your plight against the Nothings and to guide you guys in whatever you need help in," Axel replied honestly, he immediately looked to the floor and shifted his body weight nervously.

Sora noticed the body language and knew instinctively that Axel was telling the truth. Sora was always known for his quickness to trust people, though sometimes it backfired, but this time it was different. Sora knew it, he could feel it- it was like a connection that pulled him to trust Axel.

"Axel," Sora began, "We can use all the help we can get… Where do we go from here?"

"Sora…" Riku began, but this time Kairi calmly interrupted.

"Riku… I believe Sora knows what he's doing and I believe that it is for the best, we don't know what to expect and like Sora mentioned- we need all the help we can get."

Riku wanted to disagree, but he could not bring himself to do it. It was not that he did not have faith in Sora's leadership and feelings, but it was something else. It was a hesitance that Riku just could not put a finger on; he sat there and mused about it for a couple of minutes until he was called back to the conversation.

"Riku are you commin'?" asked Sora, turning around and falling behind the group to wait for Riku.

"Uh… yeah, sorry…" Riku said walking slowly with them.

They wandered through the remains of the second and third districts before they got to the unscathed first district. Sora looked around the area like it was his first time being there. He walked slowly and listened to the accents and conversations of everyone in the area. It was mesmerizing to say the least; however, he felt a sudden twinge of sadness. Tears began to build up, he rubbed his eyes in an attempt to conceal it.

Kairi walked ahead with Axel and was having an intense conversation with him about everything he could remember. She was very intrigued by the newcomer and she wanted to get to know him better, especially if he was going to be tagging along with them. Riku noticed that Sora was lagging behind, he slowed up and caught up to him.

"You ok?" he asked, his face turned to a warm, but firm one.

Sora continued to walk in silence, he did not answer immediately. After a few stops he paused and turned to Riku, "I feel like I'll be seeing this place for the last time…"

"Sora…"

Sora sat down, the tears came and flowed down his face. Riku sat next to him and wrapped one arm around him. Sora then turned and cried into Riku's shoulder. Riku just hugged him tightly and whispered, "What would give you that idea?"

"Because… I can't explain it… It's like a familiar voice told me…"

"A voice?"

"Yeah… It said that I need to separate the worlds and break the connection so they would be safe from the Nothings, Heartless and the Nobodies. However the price for it is that we will never be able to return to the world once it is closed off."

Sora sat up straight and Riku immediately looked at his feet, he understood why Sora felt upset, "Oh…"

Sora stood up suddenly, this time there was not an air of despair but hope, "There are always other doors to the worlds, we just have to find them! This won't be the last time!"

Riku smiled weakly, "That's the spirit Sora, there's that smile…"

Sora extended his hand and helped Riku stand up, they walked together and caught up with Kairi and Axel, who were at the port waiting on the Gummy Ship.

"What took you guys?" Kairi asked impatiently.

"Don't worry about it, just some reflecting that's all…" Riku said, smiling warmly.

They boarded the ship and took their seats, the ship blasted off away from the planet. Just as they got out of orbit, Sora stopped the ship. He got up silently and pulled a keychain out of his pocket that resembled a mouse head. He held it in the air and then summoned the Keyblade; the keychain began to levitate slightly. Sora took a step back and pointed the Keyblade at the keychain, a light shot from the end to the keychain. Symbols began to appear around the keychain before it suddenly exploded and vanished into a gold dust, which dissipated.

Traverse Town shimmered against the darkness of inter-space. Suddenly in one final shimmer, it disappeared completely. Sora sat back down and then continued the ship to their next destination. The ship remained silent as they headed to their next destination.

* * *

The ship came to a slow halt as they approached the next world, Sora merely turned the ship and landed it safely on the shore. As the group walked out of the ship, Kairi asked, "Where are we exactly?"

Sora completely forgot that Kairi and Riku had never been here before, "Oh… Sorry, welcome to Deep Jungle."

He made a sweeping motion with his hand, bringing their attention to the island as a whole. The trees rustled loudly and the waves crashed in the background, the tree house at the peak of the mountain resembled a large ship sailing through the ocean. The group remained quiet.

"Wow…" Kairi managed to say, "The tree house looks amazing, can we go see it Sora?"

"Yeah…" Sora managed to reply, "That's where an old friend is anyways."

Bushes in the distance rustled loudly, the group was startled and turned to prepare for an ambush. Riku and Sora called their Keyblades to their sides while Axel stood close to Kairi, "It'll be ok princess…"

She blushed before reacting defensively, "Hey! I can take care of myself!"

The bushes suddenly stopped rustling, emerging from them was someone Sora immediately recognized, "TARZAN!"

He rushed forth and hugged Tarzan in a short embrace, they quickly stood back, "It's been a long since we've talked."

"Yes," Tarzan said, he looked past Sora at Riku, Kairi, and Axel, "Who are they?"

Sora was astonished at how clear Tarzan's English was now, "Oh… Yeah! Those are my friends, Riku, Kairi, and Axel."

Tarzan nodded, he smiled, "I am Tarzan."

The three merely replied politely, but suddenly Tarzan turned to Sora, "Sora, there's been a problem here on the island, some strange things have been happening recently."

"What do you mean?" asked Sora as Tarzan turned and began walking through the jungle.

"Follow me…" is all he said as he disappeared into the bushes.

Sora and the gang chased after him to catch up. They trekked through the dense undergrowth of jungle through all the complex paths that seemed to twist and wind and go on forever. They came to a familiar spot that immediately was recognized by Sora.

"Hey I remember this place! This is where the flowers are that could repel the Heartless and even changed colors when they were near." Sora said as he walked to one of the flowers, they suddenly began violently changing colors from white to indigo to grey.

Kairi noticed it as well, "Why are they changing colors like that?"

"I don't know," Sora began, "They would either be white or purple, but they are turning grey as well… Tarzan, what's been going on?"

Tarzan muttered some words in Gorilla that did not make much sense; his English was not perfect yet.

"We didn't understand," Riku said, trying to understand and show patience, "Is there anything that you can show us?"

Tarzan nodded, he motioned them to follow. While the others followed Tarzan, she stayed behind until they were out of sight. "Namine, are you there?"

Suddenly Namine appeared next to her, walking to her side, "What do you need, Kairi?"

"I wanted to ask if you knew anything about those flowers, they keep changing colors constantly." Kairi said, reaching out to touch the flower, which turned immediately white.

Namine smiled slightly, she reached over and touched the same flower as Kairi was, it turned grey.

"What?" Kairi asked slowly.

"Ah… I get it now, these flowers are able to distinguish between beings of light and darkness, as well as what they are. It's like Sora said, the purple meant Heartless, so what does the grey stand for?"

Kairi thought for a moment, "A Nobody?"

Namine smiled, "You got it!"

Kairi pulled her hand from the flower, she hesitated for a moment before she reached up and plucked it from the vine. She reached into her pocket and pulled out part of an old necklace, she had lost the charms to them some time ago. By that time, Axel walked around the corner, "Kairi?"

"Oh!" Kairi exclaimed surprised, she dropped the chain and the flower on the ground, "You scared me! Don't do that again!"

"Sorry, sheesh…" Axel said, he bent down and picked up the flower and the chain. He looked at it before he closed his eyes; suddenly the flower shriveled up and hardened. Axel then clipped the chain to it and handed it to Kairi, "Here you go princess."

Kairi looked at it for a second and was speechless, before she could say anything she blurted out, "Don't call me princess again, you got it!?"

Namine, who was standing behind her out of sight laughed. Axel peered around her and exclaimed, "Namine, long time no see!"

Namine walked out from behind Axel, "Hi…"

"So what have you been up to?" asked Axel, he reached out to ruffle her hair like he always did except that his hand went through her.

"Whoa, that's new…" Axel commented, looking at his hand and flipping it over to observe the back as well.

"Ah… I forgot to mention that I'm merely a shadow, a memory…" Namine said as she crossed her hands in front of her.

"How ironic, isn't it?" Axel said offhandedly.

"Not really…" Namine said

"Well princess, shall we catch up to the others?" Axel asked, he bowed in a sarcastic fashion.

Kairi walked passed him, but before he could do anything she kicked him in the shin.

"What was that for!?" Axel exclaimed as he rubbed his shin.

"You called me princess again…" Kairi said before she turned the corner and disappeared.

Namine remained visible, "She's got some spunk…"

"Yeah…" Axel said, his shin still tinged with some pain, "You taking good care of her?"

"Of course, but you know…" Namine paused awkwardly, "I won't be around forever…"

Axel looked down at his feet, "What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb, it never suited you well…" Namine pointed out.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Axel insisted, his expressions became more exaggerated.

"Well in case you forgot, you know eventually I'll cease to exist, since I returned to my real self…" Namine said with neither regret nor sadness.

"Does Kairi know about it?" asked Axel, he crossed his arms defensively.

"No…" Namine answered, "But don't tell her, she doesn't need to know…"

"Alright…" Axel said.

"Go catch up with Kairi and the others, you have a job to do remember?" Namine said as she put her hands behind her back, walked around the corner, and vanished.

"You always had style, kid…" Axel said before he walked off to catch up to the others.


End file.
